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Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Learning to Tell Time with The Very Grouchy Ladybug

You can't do a ladybug unit without reading Eric Carle's The Grouchy Ladybug and you can't read the book without talking about telling time. So, I decided to help the girls make our very own ladybug clocks and teach them a bit about telling time.

1. Paint paper plates - 1 front and 1 back side in choice color for ladybug

2. On white construction paper draw circle for clock which measures inner circle of paper plate and add head on top. Cut out entire piece, let child color head in desired color using crayons or markers. Write numbers for clock and glue onto center of plate.

3. Cut out 2 arrows - 1 small and 1 large for clock hands - and attach to middle of clock on paper plate with brass fastener.

4. Take plate with painted outside and fold in half and cut. Punch hole near top - make sure plates are slightly on top of each other. This will form wings and will open and close to reveal clock in inner plate.
Attach to head of ladybug so that clock is clearly and easily seen when wings are opened.

5. Add dots to top of plate as desired.

Your finished clocks should look like this:

Read the Grouchy Ladybug and follow along with the times stated in the book on your ladybug clock!

Time is not an easy concept to teach to young children. Young children will not master this right away but this is a fun and easy way to introduce them to the idea of telling time. Both my Lil Divas were able to grasp the concept of the hour/o'clock. The Oldest Diva is learning time to the half-hour and knows that the other numbers go in 5 min. increments. Even though she can't tell you what time it is for those times - she has a vague idea of what it should be which is an awesome start.

Have you introduced the concept of time to your kids/students? Any fun ideas or tricks you care to share - I'd love to hear about them, just comment below!

21 comments:

Hi from HHH! Love The Grouchy Lady Bug. If you are doing a unit on ladybugs, you might want to order live ladybugs and release into your garden. We've done this and my children were thrilled.

Learning to tell time is always difficult. When I was still teaching in public school some of my students always struggled with this concept. For Homeschool, I use Math U See. I love this math program. The way they introduce time is so easy! My son caught on right away. If interested in a review of Math U See you can find a post on my blog. Math U See has NO idea who I am! Just think the program is great. :)

Have fun with the ladybugs!jeannine:waddlee-ah-chaahttp://waddleeahchaa.com/

Cute idea! We just bought the Grouchy Ladybug and I'm going to try this!

My mom put times on presents when we were traveling, it helped pass the time and helped us learn to tell time. She also did it for my youngest sister when she was home with the chicken pox. Entertained her while she was home and miserable and by the time she went back to school, she could tell time.

Great directions on how to make your craft. The Grouchy Ladybug is an awesome book.

My youngest son's favorite Eric Carle book right now is Have You Seen My Cat? We made our own book with Eric Carle Style illustrations to celebrate Eric Carle's Birthday. Hope you can come check it out: